For Dickerson, It’s All About Counseling Students to Success)rebecca adams)3/31/2017<p>
Even though Argosy University, Atlanta assistant professor Asha Dickerson,
Ph.D. was onlhttp://www.argosy.edu/our-community/blog/for-dickerson-it-s-all-about-counseling-students-to-success

For Dickerson, It’s All About Counseling Students to Success

Even though Argosy University, Atlanta assistant professor Asha Dickerson,
Ph.D. was only 20 years old when she graduated with her B.S. in psychology,
she has a strong sense of what life is like for her adult students, many of
whom are decades older than her.

“As a divorced mom raising an 11-year-old and a 7-year-old, I know how full
and demanding life can be,” Dickerson says. “I get what it’s like to keep
color-coded work, school and kids schedules in order to keep it all
together. That’s one of the reasons I have such respect for people who
choose to return to school to pursue an advanced degree and a new career
direction. It’s not always easy, and it’s always worth it.”

Dickerson, who specializes in Family Counseling in Substance Abuse and
Social and Cultural Diversity, says her goal is to help develop students
who can thrive in the real world.

“I want to see my students be effective and successful,” Dickerson says. “I
want to help them develop approaches and techniques that prepare them to
make a difference, whether they end up working in a hospital program, a
mental health agency, or in private practice.”

One of most important lessons counseling students must learn, says
Dickerson, is one that can’t be taught in the classroom: finding that
delicate balance between caring and caring too much.

“One of my professors at the University of Alabama-Birmingham taught me
something years ago that I’ve never forgotten: ‘It’s not about you,’” she
recalls. “Counseling is a field where you connect with your clients on a
very personal level, yet you can’t take it personally. I’ve learned that
while you can and should care, you can’t claim credit for their successes
and you can’t assume responsibility for their failures. Setting boundaries
and working to achieve a sense of balance are essential. If you don’t,
you’ll never sleep at night.”

Having worked for child protective services in Alabama right out of
college, Dickerson knows firsthand the practical challenges—and the
potential heartache—of the work she trains students to do.

“Many therapists work with the ‘worried well’, people with no diagnosable
illnesses, but I’ve always preferred getting in the trenches and working
with people who are living hard lives and looking for a way to make it
better,” Dickerson explains. “Early in my career, I worked mostly with
clients between the ages of 14 and 21, so many of them were aging out of
the system. I’d say 85% of my cases were drug and alcohol related. I
learned to identify the root of the problem, which is the family. Drugs are
an escape, and if everything in your life is going wrong, I can understand
that you might want to be numb. You can place a kid in foster care in a
mansion with the nicest people in the world, but what happens when he or
she is returned to their family? Nothing is likely to change in a family
unless the parents change. Not everyone makes it, but when you work with a
family and you see positive, lasting changes, it’s incredibly satisfying.”

Dickerson, who earned her doctor of philosophy in Counselor Education and
Supervision from Auburn University in 2014, comes from a family of
achievers. Her parents were both school principals. Her identical twin,
Aisha, is an epidemiologist and postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard
T.H. Chan School of Public Health, specializing in Autism Spectrum Disorder
and other neurodevelopmental disorders.

“My sister and I have the best kind of sibling rivalry,” says Dickerson.
“We spark the best in each other and have been each other’s biggest
supporters for as long as I can remember. We’ve even begun working on
research projects together. Aisha and I joke that we were born into
competition. So far, it’s served us pretty well.” ###